


Heartworm

by PhantomAres



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Assassin - Freeform, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hydra (Marvel), Plot, Slight Freeform, cyborg, dogtags, heartworm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:14:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29511627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhantomAres/pseuds/PhantomAres
Summary: Heartwormn. a relationship or friendship that you can’t get out of your head, which you thought had faded long ago but is still somehow alive and unfinished, like an abandoned campsite whose smoldering embers still have the power to start a forest fire.y/n, an assassin for hire ends up being taken by S.H.E.I.L.D and given another chance by Fury to become a better person. She's put on the avenger's team to give back to the people she was supposedly taking from and ends up making a few friends.Though they down know her reality and how familiar faces in the future would be the same as ones from her past.Bad memories, no childhood, old friends, and dog tags. Oh how this wasn't the plan.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Reader, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson/Reader, Steve Rogers/Reader
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	1. [Chapter 1]  Phantom

Late in the evening, the moon resting behind gray clouds. It was a relatively cold night, people staying indoors and warm. Lights from windows shining out and onto the streets.

A small dinner was open, some “highly important” individuals seated inside at one of the booths. They are some old, plump white men with gray hair and cigars. As expected.

“…And then I left in my private jet!” The male sat in the center of the booth called out with a hearty laugh as the others around the table laughed long with him. The other people in the dinner were annoyed and put off by the men yet they could do nothing about them.

A waitress walks by, a little booklet and pen in her hand. One of the men on the table takes his hand off the table and taps the waitresses behind, startling her. The guy chuckles as the girl runs off in a frantic. The men continue to converse about rich people things.

The same man who harassed the worker notices something out the corner of his eye, something f/c that glowed slightly from on top of one of the opposite buildings. He turns his head to get a better look at what the light was before it had disappeared.

Before he could even catch a look as to what it was, a bullet found its resting place between his eyeballs. He was out. His body slumped before hitting the floor, head first. The rest of the people in the dinner began to panic, civilians began running out or hiding under their tables. The other older men on the table panicked, grabbing their own pistols from their pockets when another one of them went down.

Not long after all other four men were out and only the middle man remained. The dinner was now empty and evacuated. Footsteps made their way through the door and to the booth, the only man left was in fear of this approaching individual.

Their face was covered by a mask over their mouth and nose. Around the mouth, the area is a row of metal fangs. The teeth glow f/c and the lining around the teeth glows with s/f/c.

They had on a black crop top hoody that hung over their chest and ended at their ribs with a black turtleneck underneath that covered their stomach but curved around her hips and left them out. They had on a pair of torn and ripped up black shots with black fishnets underneath. Around their waist is a black and silver belt with a silver chain coming off the left side and connecting at the back. On both, their thighs are a black harness with a bag on their sides of them. Their boots were black leather knee-highs, there are two bags on the outer-sides of the boots, the laces are a lighter black. A strap goes around the ankle with a silver buckle. The base of the boots is slightly larger than normal, acting as a platform. 

Her hands plated in sections with responsive silver metal. Its sections so that she can move skillfully and quickly. Her legs the same, plating separate for maneuverability yet stays solid to not pose as a weakness.

Resting in her hand is a fully black sniper rifle. Her turtleneck covered all her neck and covered her mouth and nose.

“what-what do you want with me” the man stuttered out.

They leaned over the table and grabbed the man's mink fur coat from off his shoulders before swinging it around her own.

“Well, someone would pay a lot for your head, and I'm gonna get that money,” She said as she quickly points the rifle at his head. Before the guy could get a word out a bullet was shot right between his eyeballs.

ᡕᠵ᠊ᡃ່࡚ࠢ࠘ ⸝່ࠡࠣ᠊߯᠆ࠣ࠘ᡁࠣ࠘᠊᠊ࠢ࠘𐡏~♡

"And their" y/n whispers to herself as she sticks down the gory pic of the rich man's lifeless face with a bleeding hole in between his eyes. Next to the pic was a simple diary-like entry description about the man and how she killed him. This was something she had done from the time she started out as an assassin to now, two full journals from when she was 15 to now at 27. She was currently halfway through her third journal.

Y/n was sat at a simple café, a simple coffee in front of her that was half empty. She had the mink coat around her shoulders still, it's really fluffy and comfortable so why not keep it? y/n closed her journal before putting it back into her backpack. She wasn't planning on taking another job for a few days, she deserved a break.

She drank what was left in her cup and got up from her seat, she pulled out her phone as shoved her hand into her mink coat pocket. It was about mid-day so people were about running errands and getting lunch. She scrolled through her phone, tempted to do a bit of shopping with the money she had gotten.

$30 Million would set her for life but lots of it when to her maintenance, being a cyborg isn't exactly easy as parts and tools cost quite a bit, some of it goes to hotels for her to stay in, she enjoys spoiling herself with fancy food and expensive gothic clothing and platform boots. Was she spoilt? Maybe but when you got the money you do what you want, especially when your job pays you 40 million dollars on average a week. 

You got the assassin skills, use them. It's worth the money and ridding the world of shitty people is a good job. 

y/n walked her way down the street when it became oddly empty and lots of footsteps could be heard behind her. She pauses for a moment before turning around to see a bunch of S.H.E.I.L.D agents stood with their guns pointed at her. A confused expression made its way onto y/n's face.

"y/n! You are to hand yourself over to S.H.E.I.L.D and come peacefully!" One of the agents yells out. y/n lets out a sigh before putting her phone in her pocket and lifting her hands up. "Well, not really how I expected my day to go"

y/n walked through the helicarrier hallways, 6 guards walking around her with guns at hand. y/n had no clue as to what was going on but she didn't really have a choice. It wouldn't be smart to take out the guards and try and escape because she doesn't know the layout of the helicarrier. 

They arrive at an automatic metal door, which opens for the group. It leads to a large room filled with people and tech. In the middle stood a dark-skinned, bald man with an eyepatch over his eye and in a fully black outfit with a black leather trench coat over it. The guards around y/n stood off to the side as she stood forward, facing the man known as Nick Fury.

"y/n. I think you know why you're here" He grumbles, someones not in a good mood. 

"Actually Fury, no I don't" y/n responds in an annoyed yet cocky tone. 

"You've caused lots of disturbances, killing anyone with a price on their head. It's really annoying when you kill S.H.I.E.L.D agents, so we took our chance to apprehend you. You're done" He answers, his hands behind his back as he walks a few steps closer towards y/n. 

y/n lets out an annoyed huff, her gig was up. From all the times she managed to outrun cops or any type of law enforcement it was relatively easy. But from the warnings, her fellow mercenaries and employers had given to her, once your on S.H.I.E.L.D's radar there's not a lot you can do to get off it.

Well only if you die, hand yourself in, or get arrested then there's not a lot you can do. Their high tech can easily track you, along with all the agents and squadrons of soldiers they have its annoying to continue to work when they intercept jobs or set up traps. 

"You are to be locked up on the Raft for mass murder and being a danger to society-" Fury was cut off by a sudden pressure in his neck, metal having wrapped its way around his neck, the tip having a long silver blade come out and pointing towards his four head. The metallic limb came from behind y/n, from the lower of her back specifically, between the plating glows f/c. 

Fury only slightly flinches however his face remains stoic, the guards that guided y/n here had taken a stance and aimed their guns at her. y/n's eyes glow f/c like her tail, showing off her cybernetic eyes as she mentally scans him. She slightly chuckles, "you're no fun" she states calmly before letting go of Fury's neck and de-activate her eyes. Her tail coiling back, retracting back into itself before disappearing under her clothing. 

"You didn't let me finish" Fury annoyingly states, rubbing his hand on his neck. "Or, you give back to the people by working with S.H.E.I.L.D and protecting civilians" He explains. 

y/n pauses for a moment as she considers her options. The raft is almost inescapable for someone like her without outside help, people with powers might have a chance but with it being in the middle of an ocean and underwater at most times would prove difficult to escape. 

Working with S.H.E.I.L.D would be...

Annoying. But would be her best bet, gain their trust and escape when they least expect it. A simple yet effective plan 

"I'll work with S.H.E.I.L.D," y/n says.

"Good choice" Fury responds before turning around and placing his figures to his ear, a communicator. 

The door behind them opens up, a ginger-haired woman in a black outfit walks in with a neutral expression on her face. 

"Y/n this is agent Romanoff, she will be keeping an eye on you whilst you grow accustomed to how we work here" Fury explained, looking over his shoulder at the two women. 

Romanoff turned to face the h/c haired woman next to her, "Natasha Romanoff, nice to meet you" She says as she holds out her hand.

"y/n l/n, nice to meet you too" y/n responds, taking Natasha's hand and shaking it. Natasha's eyes move to their hands for a moment, probably taken by surprise by her metal hands and how human warmth yet metallic feeling. 

Their hands separate before Natasha begins to walk back to the door, y/n following slightly behind her. She glanced back over her shoulder before leaving the room. 

" I'm a spy for S.H.E.I.L.D but I'm going to be your guide for a few days. You look like you'll catch on quickly to how things work around here." Natasha explains as the two women walk down the corridor. 

"How did you end up like this? Kidnapped or by choice?" y/n jokingly asks. Natasha chuckles slightly before she stops at an automatic door. y/n stopping behind her

"If your gonna be working for S.H.E.I.L.D, we're gonna have to know what you can and can't do. One of those being fighting." The door opened for the women, leading to a large empty-ish room with a glass window higher in the room. "You'll be fighting me, no weapons, just hand-to-hand combat," Natasha explains as she walks into the room.

"Might have a bit of difficulty with that." y/n says as she takes off her crop top hoody, showing her cybernetic arms off to Nat. She chuckles and shakes her head, "just no weapons" She repeats. 

y/n ties her crop hoody around her waist before taking a fighting position, her first raise in front of her and slightly crouched. Nat taking a similar position with her arms raised in front of her. 

Natasha moves first, dashing at y/n quickly. She lifted her arms slightly in defense as Nat approached. Natasha sends a strong hook at y/n's arms, which pushes her back slightly as Nat sends more punches. y/n quickly rises her legs so her knee hits Nat in the stomach, pushing her off and giving y/n a chance to send a punch. The punch lands on Natashas shoulder, she jumps back and out of y/n's range. y/n jumped back into the fight, aiming to swipe Nat's feet from under her when she jumps out the way and aims a sideways kick at y/n's head. Y/n catches her leg by her ankle and throws it back, causing nat to front flip and land away from y/n. 

A smile was on Natashas face, she looked as if she was having fun with this. A smile spreads its ways across y/n. The two fight back and forth a bit, Nat landing a few hits on y/n and vice versa. The women were both very skilled and strong in combat. Nat was very acrobatic, doing flips and rolls whilst y/n was more defensive and brute strength, seeing as she is better at distance fighting. The two were different yet equaling out to one another.

They continued to jump back and forth for about 10 minutes, their breathing becoming heavy when Nat stopped and looked off to the side. y/n took this as a chance to take her down, she swiped her foot under Nat's ankles and she tripped back onto her behind.   
Suddenly something came at the two, y/n leaned backward quickly to avoid the filing object which bounced off the wall and came back at them. y/n caught it with her hands. 

It was a disk-like shield painted with red white and blue. Looking up at whoever threw it, she met eyes with a blond man in a blue, red, and white outfit.


	2. [Chapter 2] The history of the dog tags

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> y/n gets to know captain America, she learns something she didn't expect. Memory's for a while back and the start of something.

“You two look like your having fun” the blond states in a happy tone as he walks into the room. Nat got herself up, taking the shield from y/n’s hands. “Cap, what are you doing here?” She asks as she hands the shield back to him. 

“I was passing by when I heard you two fighting and wanted to see what was going on.” Cap states before turning to y/n and holds a hand to her. “Steve Rodgers but people tend to call me Captain America”

"Or Capsicle" Nat pipes in, smiling.

y/n chuckles slightly before shaking his hand, "I'm y/n l/n, It's an honor to me you Captain" 

Steve smiles back at y/n as their hands separate. "we're done here y/n, I've seen what I've needed to" Natasha says as she walks over to a blue floating panel by the door and types something down.

"So she's the new recruit," Cap says as he walks over to Nat, leaving y/n in the middle of the room to put her crop hoody back on. 

Natasha only nods in response before finishing up on what she was typing before tuning to face y/n. "You passed, welcome to the avengers," Nat says happily. 

y/n pauses, "wait, Fury said I was a S.H.I.E.L.D agent?" She questioned, she thought that she was supposed to just be a S.H.I.E.L.D agent. 

"Well there has been a change of plan, Fury wants you to work with the Avengers so you can be of more help and under more supervision since he thought you might try and escape," Natasha explained.

y/n stood still, processing this (screaming internally) and trying to figure out a new escape plan yet all routes seemed to end in failure. Great...

"Oh, nice. That means I can meet the rest of the Avengers and stuff, cool" y/n said in an attempt to act happy. Cap and Natasha give each other a look at the question before laughing. y/n ended up joining them, realizing how scared she had sounded. 

"I'll leave you in Steves hands, I've got some things to do. Good luck" Nat said once she had calmed down and then left the room, leaving Steve and y/n alone. 

Cap turned to y/n, " so, how about lunch?" 

★━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━★

Steve and y/n sat at a simple restaurant just chatting about really anything and everything. They had talked about Steve's life in 1943 and what it was like living back then, y/n had shared what's it's like living in the 21st century and answered some of Steve's questions. It was pretty amusing having to explain what a reality tv show is to him. y/n had figured out a lot about him, she probably should have taken her history classes seriously or gone to the museum so she would know him better. 

They had a simple mean and had gone through multiple drinks whilst chatting. They had probably been there for about an hour or so. 

"Two years ago with the alien attack, that must have been traumatic" y/n says, taking another sip from her drink.

"Yeah, after being trapped in ice for so long and then coming back to all of that was a lot. But it has been two years and I think I've coped with it well, can't say the same for any of the others."

"Well it must have been tough for them seeing as none of you would have ever experienced something like that, I was in Germany when the word went out about an alien attack and everyone thought it was some fake news or misinterpretation. But after seeing video evidence people believed it, it's just crazy to think something like that actually happened" 

"yeah, it is hard to believe if you had never seen it. Back in my day, the craziest thing that I ever saw was a car that hovered for a few seconds but that was really it." Steve chuckles at the memory before his face becomes saddened. "It's good to be able to talk with people about all this, the others on the team handled the situation very differently. I wish my old friend was here to see all of this stuff as well, it would blow his mind" He looked a bit happier after the mentioning of his friend.

"Who's your old friend? Sounds like the two of you were close" 

"Bucky, his actual name is James Buchanan Barnes. He was my best friend and was in the army, the 107th Infantry Regiment. He was also-" Steve continued on with his little ramble about his friend Bucky whilst y/n sat there in shock yet not showing it.

Barnes was so much more than y/n though he was when she was first introduced to him and told them they would be doing missions together she knew the bare minimum about him. A male soldier that was in WW2 yet was kept in a cryogenic state between missions. y/n was hired by hydra and she thought that Barnes was the same as she never saw him outside missions but she did eventually see behind that curtain after a mission that went south. 

Y/n was appalled by the treatment of him and she chose to try and befriend him with the time they spent together. It did relatively work from what y/n saw and he allowed her to call him Barnes when alone or not on missions, she had to call him what the monsters of HYDRA called him. The winter solder.

When Barnes was in a cryogenic state, y/n would be running other missions such as escorts, assassinations, guarding, and other things. She was only with HYDRA for 5 years and promptly left after they attempted to brainwash her as they had done to Barnes, which had worked for some time but didn't last and she quit once she realized what they were trying.

It has been almost 4 years since she worked for HYDRA and since she last saw Barnes, she still felt guilty about leaving him yet she still had his dog tag. There was just something in her heart that wouldn't allow her to let go of him no matter how much she tried. She had his and he had hers. 

"-Sadly Bucky died after falling from a cliff from a moving train, they never found his body and he was presumed KIA" Steve finished up his ramble on his friend. This brought y/n out of her internal crisis, he was presumed dead? No wonder he slipped under the radar. A visit to the museum was needed, she needed answers.

★━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━★

Cars zipped past below, the busy night streets flooded with vehicles and people. The tall building of the hotel toward of the beings below yet level with the surrounding buildings. 

Two people sat on a high balcony fire escape, y/n was sat on the stairs whilst Barns was leaning up against the railing and staring down at the streets far below. 

The two were set on a solo-ish mission, one where y/n and Barnes were trusted to complete the mission and make their way back to the base. They had finished their mission which was a simple assassination of an ex-HYDRA agent. They then decided to stay at a hotel for the night to patch up any wounds and getting some rest before heading back. 

The two were sat out on the fire escape, just getting a bit of fresh air. They needed a bit of fresh air, away from all the commotion of people. It was a peaceful silence, y/n with a cup of f/d in her hands. 

Barnes's shoulders shivered slightly, enough for y/n to notice. " If your cold Barnes then your welcome to go back inside." She said softly, in hopes of coaxing him into talking. He hardly talked, only ever asking questions or responding to his handlers. y/n manly did all the talking but she sort of knew how he was probably uncomfortable with talking himself and enjoyed listening to her ramble on about random things. 

"I use to be someone" He mumbles out, his voice emotionless as normal. 

Y/n looks at his back before putting her cup down and walking over to the railing next to him.

"I use to have a life that wasn't just violence, I can feel it, and yet I can't remember it," Barnes says, his head hanging downwards and his body tense. His long hair covered the side of his face so y/n wasn't able to see it. 

"Barnes..." y/n whimpers, she had never seen him like this. So open and honest like he was poring out everything that haunted him right into her hands. 

"I can barely remember you sometimes. Everyone else is out to completely wipe me of who I was and it feels like your the only thing anchoring me down. If I can remember you I can remember who I am and I don't want to lose that. I don't want to forget you, y/n"

y/n's heart broke into a million pieces, she didn't know how his handlers were treating him as it was outside of y/n's job yet she wanted to just punch them in the face because of how broken Barnes sounded. Seeing and hearing someone so cold and emotionless just crumble in front of you is heart-wrenching.

She had a soft spot for the super-soldier, she was so patient and calm with him that it made him feel human. Like he was as normal as y/n is. 

y/n places one of her robotic hands onto Barnes's left hand that was resting on his right arm. His head lifts slightly and his dark eyes meet her e/c ones. His eyes were slightly red and glossed over like he was about to cry.

They stay like that for a minute, their eyes locked and in a claiming silence with the sounds of cars echoing from under them. He looked so internally broken. 

y/n, using her other hand, grabs her necklace from around her neck and pulled it out of her top. A pair of silver dog tags with words and numbers engraved into the metal. She looks down at the tag, her name visible on it before pulling it off her neck and holding it out for Barnes. He looks at it hesitantly.

"It's my dog tag, it's got my name and some other things on there about me like birthdate and such. I thought if you had it and kept it on your person then if you ever feel like your forgetting me, you can just look at it and remember me." y/n explained a bit hesitantly. she wasn't sure if it would work but she was willing to try anything. 

Barnes doesn't go for her dog tag but reaches up to his neck and grabs his own before holding out his own next to y/ns hand. A smile makes its way onto y/ns face as she and Barnes trade dog tags. She readers over the tags, one with basic info, the other being his military position.

"Just don't go losing it" Barnes states as he clips the necklace around his neck, y/n chuckles before doing the same. " I won't lose it, let alone take it off. The day loses it will be the day i die" 

y/n's hand tightens around the metal tags that dangled around her neck. That was almost 5-6 years ago from when she was working with HYDRA and finally gained Barnes's trust. Currently, she was stood in front of the museum exhibits on Bucky, or Barnes as she called him. There is so much that she never knew about him, probably from the memory wipes he got that he couldn't remember all this nor tell y/n about it.

It had been a month since y/n was taken in by S.H.I.E.L.D and was working with the Avengers. Well, Avengers roughly. She has been doing missions with Natasha and steve for S.H.I.E.L.D. She had met some of the others, that being Tony, Bruce, and Clint. She had moved into an apartment complex, the same one Steve lives in. It was Nat who convinced her to live there for "supervision reasons".

y/n had on some simple clothes, a black hoody, black jeans, the same boots she had on when she was taken in, and a black coat with grey fur lining the hood. Around her thighs were some straps with bags attached. She was permitted to carry around weapons in case of being attacked whilst in public. She didn't want people to see her robotic parts in public, people have freaked out before about them and have asked questions, she was definitely not in the mood of that right now.

The sudden ping from her coat pocket caught her attention, pulling out her phone she sees Nat had sent her a message. She was here to pick up y/n for a mission, they were gonna go get Steve next. 

Y/n picks her backpack off the floor before heading to the exit. 


	3. [chapter 3] Words don't hurt but bullets do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meeting sam, the mission, Steve, and Fury being children and a scary reveal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm planning on working through the films and with the time in between them, I will probably write little filler bits. Also, i really love Sam so there might be a bit of favoritism in this story when it comes to second place.

"So what's going on?" y/n asked, she was sat in the passenger seat of the car with Nat driving. 

"A group of pirates has taken over a S.H.I.E.L.D. vessel and are holding them, hostage. Me, you, Steve, and the STRIKE team are to go and take out the pirates and rescue the hostages. "Nat explains as she navigates the streets of Washington, D.C. 

The drive isn't too long as they turn into a park-like area, pulling to the side of the road. There was Steve stood in casual workout clothes and another man was stood by him in a sweater. They looked as if they were talking. 

Nat rolls down the window on y/n's side, she smiles at the boys. "Hey fellas, either one of you knows where the Smithsonian is? I'm here to pick up a fossil" Nat says jokingly. y/n chuckles at her comment.

"That hilarious" Steve says as he walks over to the car and hops into the back seats.

The other guy crouched down slightly to get a look into the car at the women sat in the front. "How are you doing?" He says flirtatiously. 

"Hey" y/n draws out, flirting back as the two lock eyes.

Steve pokes his head between the front seats, "Can't run everywhere" he says with a smirk.

"No, you can't" His friend replies before Natasha revs the car before driving off. As there driving off and away from the park, y/n turns slightly in her seat and pokes her head back to Steve. "Who was that?"

"Guy called Sam Wilson, he's a veteran pararescue trooper. Met him while I was out running" Steve responds with a smirk.

"You interested y/n?" Nat pipes in, a smirk on her face as her eye dart to y/n before going back to the road. Steve lets out a little chuckle when y/n whips back round in her eat and faces forward. 

"Maybe" y/n answers Nat's questions with hesitance. 

★━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━★

The team stood in the jet, Brock giving a debriefing on the situation. Cap gave out instructions to everyone. y/n was to get to a high point and incapacitate any pirates on board.

As everyone was gearing up, y/n checked the thigh bags. Her brass knuckles and knives were all still in there. She took off her coat before getting her gun case. Opening it up she's treated by the pretty sight of her sniper rifle. Over the years she had it she has modified it to fit her use. The high-tech scope can detect heat signatures and other levels of light. It packs a stronger punch and can carry more ammo. Its a mainly a carry gun however it does have legs that can be used for stability with longer shots. 

She pulled on a pair of black gloves so she wouldn't damage her hands like last time. 

"Coming up on the drop zone cap," One of the STRIKE agents says. y/n was stood by Nat, waiting for her queue with her sniper rifle in hand. 

"you know, if you ask Kristen out from statistics, she would probably say yes," Nat states, y/n rolls her eyes at this with a giggle. Natasha trying to set up Cap at any moment was funny but she feared for when Nat turned to try to set y/n up. 

"That's why I don't ask" Cap responds in a louder voice as he gets nearer to the back of the jet, the wind muffling his voice out slightly.

"To shy or too scared?" y/n interrupts, getting a smile from Nat. 

"Too Busy" Cap responds as he walks down the slope before hopping off the end.

y/n lets out a sigh in annoyance, he wasn't wearing a parachute but she knew he could probably take the drop. Reckless as always. 

The rest of the team jump out of the jet, with parachutes, and land on the ship.

Cap had a gun pointed at him by one of the pirates however y/n landed on a tall part of the ship and sniped the guy, taking him out. Cap waved up to y/n with a smile as the rest of the team landed, Cap and Natasha walk of to continue the mission. From a distance, y/n could hear Nat talking about another girl that she could set up with Cap. She simple smiled a she got comfy up there, lying on her stomach with her rifle positioned in front of her.

Cap had taken out most of the pirates on the deck but there were a few coming up onto the deck that y/n had to take out. Once there were no more on the deck nor coming out onto the deck. Y/n relaxed for a minute before sniping some of the pirates through a window, due to her dark clothing and the lack of lighting where she was, she was undetectable.

"y/n what's your status" Caps voice came through the coms in her ear. "The main deck has been cleared, there aren't any other pirates out here" 

Lots of gunshots could be heard minutes later, they had taken out the majority of the pirates and Rumlow was in the process of getting the hostages out. "y/n focus on our route, I want you to take out any pirates that might be sneaking about over here" Brock commands.

"Roger that," Y/n says as she changes her position, turning around to focus on their route. This was a pretty normal mission for y/n, how things normally go and all. She rarely ended up having to fight using her fists but it had happened a few times. 

y/n was supervising the hostages from afar when she noticed that Natasha wasn't there or at the extraction point. "Rumlow where Natasha?" She questioned over coms. "Were not sure, Cap's looking for her." Rumlow replies.

y/n keeps an eye on the hostage route whilst looking about with her scope for Nat, " I should really start placing trackers on everyone" y/n whispers to herself as she jumps from her position and rushes over to she last saw Cap. Getting to the location she could hear Caps and Natasha's voices coming from a room with a broken open door. Standing in the doorway, she sees Nat standing by some monitor and Cap standing above their main target, Georges Batroc.

Just as y/n was about to interrupt their little quarrel. George got back up and threw a grenade at the two. Y/n quickly dips away from the doorway and climes up to the platform above it. Getting out of the explosions way.

The ground shakes under her and a large flash of red comes from the doorway followed by smoke pouring out.  
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Y/n followed intently behind Steve as they walked through the corridors of the Triskelion. He was annoyed and angry by, what he had explained to y/n as Nat almost completely ruining the mission. y/n didn't see the point in his anger, she's a S.H.I.E.L.D agent and was given a different mission. But Steve was still angry at this so he was off to talk to Fury y/n followed to make sure he didn't do anything dumb in his fit of rage. 

"You can't stop yourself from lying can you?" Steve states angrily as he walks over to Fury's desk, y/n walking behind him. 

"I didn't lie. Agent Romanoff had a different mission than yours" Fury says calmly as he sits in his chair, facing away from the two. 

"Which you didn't feel obligated to share" Steve replies angrily. 

"I'm not obliged to do anything." Fury turns to face the two. 

"Those hostages could have died, Nick" 

"Steve, really?" Y/n whispers behind him.

"I send the greatest soldier in history and the best sniper in America to make sure that didn't happen." Fury states sternly. 

"solders trust each other. that's what makes it an army. Not a bunch of guys running around shooting guns." 

Fury stands from his seat," Last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye." There was a moment of silence before Fury continued, " Look id didn't want you doing anything you weren't comfortable with. Agent Romanoff is comfortable with everything."

Steve grew inpatient, "I can't lead a mission when the people I'm leading have missions of their own" 

"It's called compartmentalization. Nobody spills the secrets because nobody knows them." Fury was getting annoyed by this, y/n could see it in his face. 

"Except you" Steve states. 

y/n lets out a sigh in annoyance, maybe she should have just gone home. They were squabbling like children with guns. 

"Your wrong about me. I do share, I'm nice like that"

The three walked into the elevator. "Insight bay" Nick commands as he leans up again the railing of the elevator.

"Captain Rodgers and y/n l/n do not have clearance for project insight," the AI says. 

"Director override. Fury, Nicolas J." 

"Confirmed"

The doors close as the elevator begins to go down. A few seconds of that awkward elevator silence happens before steve speaks up. " You know they use to play music"

"Yeah, My grandfather operated one of these things for 40 years. Grandad worked in a nice building, got good tips. He'd walk home every night, a roll of ones stuffed in his lunch bag. He'd say hi, people would say hi back. Time went on, the neighborhood got rougher. He'd say hi, they'd say keep on stepping. Grandad got to gripping that lunch bag a little tighter" Fury tells the two.

"Did he ever get mugged?" y/n questioned, interested in where this was going.

Fury lets out a laugh, "Every week some punk would say 'what's in the bag?'"

"What would he do?" "Steve pipes in.

"He'd show them. Bunch of crumpled ones, and a loaded .22 magnum." He says as the elevator goes underground. Fury stands straight and turns to faced the window behind y/n, "Yeah, grandad loved people. But he didn't trust them very much" He said seriously. 

y/n turned to look out the window, followed by Steve.

"Yeah i know, they're a little bit bigger than a 22."

Stationed there were 3 massive helicarier like ships, on each of the sides were their respective numbers. There were lights under them and people walking about on the floor and women on top of the ships, all working on them. It was crazy to see such big ships under their base and to have never known about them.

Once out of the elevator the two followed after Fury, looking around in astonishment. "This protects insight. Three next-generation helicariers synced to a network of targeting satellites." Fury explains as they walk. "Once we get them in the air, they never need to come down. continuous suborbital flight, courtesy of our new repulsor engines."

"Stark?" Steve questioned. 

"He had a few suggestions once he got an up-close look at our old turbines." He answers before continuing, " These new long-range precision guns can eliminate 1,000 hostiles a minute." The three of them stopped walking once they were in front of one of the ships, and were standing on a platform. "The satellites can read a terrorist's DNA before he steps out his spider hole. Were gonna neutralize a lot of threats before they even happen." 

y/n was in disbelief as to all of this, she was sort of glad that she was taken in only a month ago and not when these things would be up. She probably would have gotten killed. y/n stares up at the ships before her eyes glow an f/c, she uses her cybernetic eyes to analyze the ship inside and out. I these things was going up then it might be good to know how to get them down in case of a takeover. Analyzing the ships, it showed that there was no easy way of bringing them down unless you did it from the inside which would be annoying. 

y/n closes her eyes for a second, deactivating her cybernetic eyes and turning them back to their normal e/c. 

"After New York, I convinced the World Security Council we needed a quantum surge in threat analysis. For once, were way ahead of the curve." Fury says confidently.

"By holding a gun to everyone on earth and calling it protection," Steve states his opinion, which makes both y/n and Fury turn their head to him. 

"You know, I read those SSR files. 'Greatest generation'? You guys did some nasty stuff." Fury states.

"Yeah, we compromised. Sometimes I a way that made us not sleep so well. But we did it so that people could be free. This isn't freedom. This is fear" Steve says, trying to reason with Fury. 

y/n moves to stand by Steve, "I know a lot about fear and this is definitely it" She says as the two men look at her. 

"S.H.I.E.L.D. takes the world as it is, not as we like it to be. And it's getting damn near past time for you two to get with that program" Fury threatens the two. 

"Don't hold your breath" Steve says a he turns and walks away. Y/n stays where she was for a few seconds, glaring at Fury, "Id suggests you watch your tongue Fury, you might lose it" She says angrily before turning and walking after Steve.


	4. [chapter 4] Maybe bullets do hurt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> y/n is in a bad situation and it just keeps getting progressively worse.

y/n was stood outside, a bag in one hand and her phone in the other. She was just mindlessly scrolling through it. In the bag was just some food she had picked up before meeting up with Steve before he left and ran off inside the building she was now alone in front of. He did say it was where Sam worked when not on the field so that worked for her. The two lived in the same apartment complex so at any chance they got they would walk or drive back together. 

y/n couldn't concentrate, her thought running rapidly. The next-generation helicariers irritated her. She knew that they were needed to protect humanity and that they needed to be indestructible but something about them was off-putting. She didn't even know what was irritating her, probably just her instincts telling her it's bad news. Or maybe it's something more, she was sort of glad that she had placed a tracker Steve, now it was just to get one on Nat, maybe even Fury. In the corner of her vision was a little screen with a map and small locater dots on her and Steve. On the other bottom corner was a box where all news reports came up in little boxes. 

She tapped her metallic fingers against the side of her phone, seen as she was relaxed it let her systems relax as well, they glowed and faded out down her figures at every tap. Touch responsive lighting under the metallic panels in her cybernetic parts was a good choice, entertaining and useful. Though the boxes in her vision tend to be annoying they really came in useful and due to y/n's jobs and past, she kept them constantly on. 

A news report caught her attention, 'Unknown police officers are tracking and following a man in a black car that is covered in gunshots. Civil-' y/n blurs out the rest, what the fuck is going on? y/n managed to get surveillance on the situation by getting back into her Merc chat, a tab that was in her vision when she was working as an assassin and allowed her to contact and talk to other Merc's. It was blowing up with confusion on the attack and only a quarter of them seemed to know what was going on. y/n caught brief messages and words through the mayhem.

'S.H.I.E.L.D raid'

'Fury'

'HYDRA'

'Assassination'

and 'The Winter Solder'...

y/n quickly put it together. Fury was being attacked by HYDRA, specifically The Winter Solder. And they wanted him dead. 'S.H.I.E.L.D raid' was confusing though. Was it literally just referring to the attack or was referring to assassins planning on sweeping S.H.I.E.L.D agents out and taking over. Who knew with how unpredictable Mercs are.

This could be happening now or even an hour ago, news does come out quickly but not enough to be caught in the action. This could have happened hours ago at this rate. But that does mean one thing, HYDRA is in Washington or nearby, and the winter soldier is there as well. y/n theorized in her head. 

What were they after? y/n's thought was racing quicker than they were before, with the sun setting and Steve still in the building this might turn into a dangerous situation. Seeing that HYDRA may still be after her. 

"y/n?" A tap on her shoulder made her jump, her hand reaching to her thigh bag and grabbing out one of her knives, the handle curing around her figures. Just before she could do any damage, the sight of the blond stopped her. Steve was stood there looking like a lost puppy. y/n lets out a sigh of relief before smiling at Steve and putting her knife back. 

"You ready to go," He says softly as he nods his head slightly to the side, where two motorbikes were parked. One was an older-looking one that belonged to Steve and a sleek, black, and more modern-looking one that belonged to y/n. 

y/n nodded before picking up her helmet off the floor and walking over to the bikes. 

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The two drive their way back to their apartment complex before parking up in the alleyway between the apartment complex and the building next to it. The two then made their way in through the front door and up the stairs. y/n had her shopping back in her helmet as she carried it under her arm and her phone out in the other hand. She was contemplating one of the Mercs she was still in contact with to see if he had any clue what was going on, but she would do that while in the comfort of her apartment.

One of their neighbours was out at the time and on her phone so as Steve walked past her he gave her a small wave before passing. 

y/n fished her keys out of her helmet as she blanked out the conversation between Steve and the other woman. She got her keys and put them in the keyhole when a comment caught her attention. "Oh, i think you left your stereo on." The woman states before continuing her way down the stairs.

Steve's eyes meet y/n's before she opens her door and thrown in her helmet with her groceries before locking it again and quietly making her way over to Steve. The two sneak around to a window before climbing their way in. They sneak quietly around the wall where Steve picks up his shield from the floor before the two turn the corner, y/n gets her black brass knuckles on her hands. 

Steve pears round the corner before y/n peaks around him only to see Fury resting on a chair in the corner, in the dark. The two realize who it is, Steve leans up against the wall as y/n steps out from behind him. 

"I don't remember giving you a key," Steve says, he's probably still angry about earlier. Nick leans up in his chair with a grunt as he holds onto his arm as if he was in pain. y/n doesn't need to analyse him to know that he's hurt badly. There were lots of scratches and cuts on his face along with a broken and bloodied nose, and by the looks of how he was holding his arm, it looked as if it was broken. 

"You really think Id need one?" He says as he reaches for his phone, "My wife kicked me out." He states.

"didn't know you were married," Y/n replies as she grabs a towel from the counter behind her, wanting to help Fury. 

"A lot of things you don't know about me," Nick says, his voice is a bit grumbly.

"We know, Nick. That's the problem" Steve says as he gets off the wall and flicks the light switch which gives him a clear image of Fury, to which he responds with shock. He's about to ask something when Fury puts his hand up to stop him and turns the light back on. Steve's eyes go to y/n who still holding onto the towel and a concerned look on her face. 

Fury quickly types something into his phone before showing the two. 'Ears everywhere. 

Is he being followed? Tracked even? Steve looks nervous as he glances about the room, unsure of what's actually happening. 

"I'm sorry to have to do this, but i had no place else to crash." Fury looks around nervously before typing something else in on his phone. 'SHIELD compromised'. So her presumption was relatively right. A S.H.I.E.L.D raid. "Who else knows about your wife?" y/n questions, trying to signal something.

Fury types something in his phone again before getting up out of his seat. 'Us three' "Just my friends" he answers. 

"Is that what we are?" Steve says angrily, understandably but acting like this right now wasn't the way to go. 

"That's up to you" Fury states calmly. Then suddenly the gunfire is heard. Fury is shot as more bullets hit him. In a panic y/n quickly grabs him, ducks down, and drags him to cover however a bullet lands on one of her arms. This causes her arm to shut down and for her to only be able to use one arm. She gets Fury round the corner and undercover with Steve standing by. y/n uses the towel to stop the bullet wounds to stop bleeding. 

Fury leans his hand up to Steve, to which he hands him a USB before he coughs out "Don't trust anyone. "

Suddenly the door slams open and in walks their blond neighbor with a gun. "Captain. y/n. I'm agent 13 of S.H.I.E.L.D. Special service." she says.

"Kate?" Steve questions. So that was her name. 

"I'm assigned to protect you and to keep an eye on y/n." She says as she walks around the corner. 

"On whose order?" Steve questions sternly. 

"His," she says as she gets down onto the floor on the other side of Fury to y/n. Y/n had mobility in one hand as her other arm had shut off from the damage done from the bullet, she had her hand holding a rag to one of Fury's many bullet wounds with her other arm hanging limp. 

The blond quickly drops her gun and checks Fury's pulse before pulling out a radio from under her top. "Foxtrot is down, he's unresponsive. I need EMT's" she says into the radio

Steve peers around the corner, staring out a window. "Do we have a 20 on the shooter? "A male voice comes through the radio.

"Tell him I'm in pursuit," Steve says before he takes off to the window and jumps through it. Y/n quickly picks up the blonde's gun that she had dropped before heading to the window. Using her only good arm and scoping in on the fleeing male. She didn't intend on taking him out but identifying them. The little dot for Steve on her map moved ahead. Once he was gone from her sight she lowered the gun before tossing it back onto the ground. Her arm-waving limply by her side catches her attention. 

Great. Repairing this is going to be expensive.

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The door behind them opens quickly before Natashas hurried footsteps come into the room and stop in front of the glass once she saw Fury on the table. Y/n, steve, and Agent Hills were there as well as some others. Steve was standing right by the glass whilst y/n was lent against the wall sideways so she could watch and rest. Her arm that was shot was hung up in a sling so it would stop waving about. 

Nat had a panicked look on her face, panting slightly from probably running through the hospital. "Is he gonna make it?" She asked quietly.

"I don't know" Steve responds in a similar quiet tone. 

"Tell me about the shooter" Nats voice turns serious.

"He's fast, strong. Had a metal arm" Steve responds. This catches y/n's attention. Metal arm? 

"Ballistics?" 

"Three slugs, no rifling. Completely untraceable" Hills pipes in as she moves closer to the window. 

"Soviet-made" Nat states. Hills turns her head to nat, "Yeah" 

Just as she says that Fury flatlines. The nurses/doctors/surgeons rush around him. They use the defibrillators to shock him. Nat mumbles to herself as her shoulders begin to shake. The room's atmosphere turned from hopefully to sadden as the doctors confirmed his death. Steve leaves the room, followed by Hills. Natasha stays in place. 

y/n wasn't close to Fury, hell she saw him as an annoyance most of the time but this hurt. Not like a loved one but like a friend died. Yet it was worse as she had been there when he had gotten he injures, and the fatal ones. And she did nothing. 

Once they had taken Fury's body away and everyone had left the room, y/n was lat to leave. A nurse had come over to her to see if her arm was okay or needed checking. y/n had to politely decline before she continued down the hall where she saw Natasha come storming out from a room, Steve in tow. This isn't going to be good. 

"Natasha!" Steve called after her. 

Nat stops suddenly and whips her head around to face Steve. y/n stops behind the two but look around Steve. "why was Fury in your apartment?" She askes sternly. 

Steve lets out a sigh, "I don't know" 

"Cap, they want you back at S.H.I.E.L.D," Rumlow says as he comes up behind them. 

"Yeah, give me a second" Steve replied.

"They want you now" Rumlow states firmly.

"Okay" Steve replied in an equally stern tone making Rumlow walk away. Steve turned back to Nat only for her to say, "You're a terrible liar. " And walked away. Leaving Steve and y/n.

"We gotta do something about this" y/n mumbles quite enough for Steve to hear. He looked over to her before they lock eyes for a second and y/n walks over to the STRIKE team. Rumlow turned to face y/n as she approached. 

"y/n you stay here and get your arm fixed up" He states, something in his eyes wasn't right. y/n didn't want to get into more trouble than she might already be in so maybe fixing up her arm would be a good idea. y/n nods to him before trying and walking back to where Steve was. 

Stev walked past y/n before meeting with Rumlow and the STRIKE team left. y/n stood where Steve previously was before looking over at the vending machine, she was a tad bit hungry. However, something caught her eye. Behind a pack of bubble gum was a USB. 

The USB that Fury had handed to Steve. Why did he leave it here? She fishes out her wallet from her pocket before getting enough money to buy the gum and the USB out. 

Getting them out from the bottom of the machine. y/n examined the USB before shoving it and hiding it in her wallet which she promptly puts back into her pocket. 

She glances down at her dead arm, "I need to get that bullet out" She mumbles to herself as she glances back and forth before finding an empty room that she could work in. Sitting herself down she gets one of her knives from her thing bag and unwrapping her arm from the sling, it lands on the table she was sat at. Using her knife she fishes out the bullet stuck between the metal and wiring of her arm. She manages to pry the bullet out before reaching back for her wallet where she keeps some supplies for emergency repairs. A swiss army knife and a lighter. 

Using the swiss army knife she's able to find the two wires that connect and using the lighter melt them back together. She reapest this with all the wires when suddenly someone walks in. Looking up y/n is greeted by Natasha, whos now in different clothing. 

"What are you doing y/n?" She askes, concerned. 

"I got shot in the arm and I need to fix it if I want it to work"y/n explained. Nat pulled up a chair and sits at the table with y/n. As y/n is putting her arm back together, an uncomfortable silence rises between the two. It gets to the point where y/n is nervous and can't focus on her arm, she reaches into her wallet and pulls out the bubble gum she had gotten from the vending machine, and offers it to Natasha who takes it. Nat passes over a plastic bag filled with clothing.

"Get changed, you've been wearing those clothes for almost two days now," Nat says, y/n scrummages through the bag before finding some clothes she liked before putting them on.

It consisted of a black hoody with a black leather jacket over the top, a pair of dark blue jeans and she threw on the same pair of boots. She didn't want to keep her thigh bags so she put all the things in the hoody pocket. 

Once y/n was done changing and had wrapped up the hole in her arm with bandages, she decided to strike up a conversation. "I got the USB off him"

"The what?" Natasha questioned but y/n couldn't really tell if it was sarcastic or not.

"The one that Fury gave to Steve before he died" y/n informs as she finishes up her arm. Her arm glows f/c as she gains mobility again, she wiggles about her hand and figures before tightening them into a fist. She puts her thing back into her wallet before putting it into her pocket. Only holding onto the USB now. 

Natasha gets up from her seat as she looks out through the blinds of the window when y/n's phone goes off, she pulled it out and sees a notification.

Captain Steve Rodgers is now a fugitive to be taken out by S.H.I.E.L.D. for withholding information on Fury's death. Using her map, y/n locates Steve before turning to where Nat was and quickly slips one onto her back, which connects to the flesh of her back but not enough for it to be noticeable. 

y/n sees that Steve was now in the hospital and probably wants his USB.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *insert im in danger meme*


End file.
